Paul Reid said that all facets of the fight against the disease are set to scale up in the coming weeks.

All 21 are waiting in the emergency department.

HSE boss Paul Reid has said plans are being made for the emergency phase of Covid-19 but he hopes it will never be reached.

The level of outbreaks of flu in Irish emergency departments during this winter is “perturbing” and shouldn’t happen “if we got vaccination right” according to the HSE’s head of public care.

More hospital beds will continue to be needed to deal with hospital hospital overcrowding, according to Health Minister Simon Harris.

More than 13,000 people over the age of 75 waited on trolleys for over 24 hours in emergency departments this year, it has emerged.

The Irish Nurses and Midwives Organisation have welcomed extra funds but said the HSE's winter plan will not work without extra staff.

There is €26m for a winter plan to deal with emergency department overcrowding in acute public hospitals, Simon Harris, the health minister, has confirmed.

Talks aimed at ending the health support dispute will get underway at the Workplace Relations Commission tomorrow.

The HSE’s deputy head of operations, Anne O’Connor, is advising patients who have not been contacted to turn up for their elective procedures tomorrow despite the threatened dispute by support staff.

Screening programmes should not be paused, the health minister has said, after several professional medical bodies warned their viability was under threat in the wake of a recent landmark High Court judgment.

Tributes have been paid to HPV vaccine campaigner Laura Brennan, who has died from cervical cancer at the age of 26.

One of the country's leading HPV vaccine campaigners Laura Brennan has died at the age of 26.

The HSE has is facing a new problem in staffing mental health services — the agencies from which it draws temporary staff are also struggling to fill posts.

The number of suicides in Ireland is decreasing, having risen considerably between 2007 and 2012.

Simple day-to-day acts of care and concern have the potential to make a difference for someone struggling with suicide.

Talks will take place today between the HSE and the Psychiatric Nurses Association (PNA) in an effort to avert the closure of half the beds in the country’s newest inpatient unit for children with mental health disorders.

Suicide charity Pieta House is taking over services previously operated by Console in a deal finalised yesterday to ensure minimum disruption to clients.

Children will be asked for their views on school atmosphere and their teachers as part of a suggested process to help support pupils’ mental health.

Hospitals must make a €150m saving next year despite getting increased funding, it emerged yesterday.

WE’VE all seen stressed parents at the security checkpoint, unloading babies from buggies, folding buggies the size of small excavators, with a baby in one arm and a screaming toddler at their feet. Next they are asked to open all of the pre-made baby’s bottles, then to remove their shoes and belts while still holding the children who are both screaming at this stage. Not a pretty sight but that’s the price of security these days.

WE’VE all seen stressed parents at the security checkpoint, unloading babies from buggies, folding buggies the size of small excavators, with a baby in one arm and a screaming toddler at their feet. Next they are asked to open all of the pre-made baby’s bottles, then to remove their shoes and belts while still holding the children who are both screaming at this stage. Not a pretty sight but that’s the price of security these days.

Social workers in north Dublin say the welfare of their clients could be at risk if a plan to relocate them to a new office is implemented.

WE, the undersigned, are writing in protest at the recent decision of the Government in the budget to abolish the Modern Languages in Primary Schools Initiative (MLPSI).

A SENIOR medical officer, who was unlawfully sacked by the HSE because of the Government’s moratorium on recruitment, is to be re-engaged and given a back pay and pension package of about €100,000.

MORE than a third of children between the ages of six months to five years have persistent and severe sleep problems, research shows.

MOTHERS who cradle their babies to the right hand side are displaying signs of extreme stress, new research suggests.

ONE-IN-FIVE five parents are unhappy with how they discipline their child and over 60% admit that discipline causes strife with their partner, a survey has found.